Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Sportsmanship

Happy Fourth of July, everybody. I'm coming to learn that this isn't a holiday for "people like me," so I elected to do the most patriotic thing I can think of, and go to work.

I've always been a pseudo-anarchist, not to be confused with today's "libertarian," but I realized I'm one of those kinds of people that other people say to: "If you don't like it, go live in some other country."Believe me, I would if I could.I don't hate America, by any means. I think we're a bully, and our so-called representative politicians are driven by greed, and I don't like rednecks. But I learned to appreciate this country just like so many others after 9-11. I yearn for that feeling of "togetherness" we all had.But the political divide continues to widen, and it's driving otherwise sane people crazy, and I'm sick of it. I hardly care who wins the presidential election this year. To me, it makes little difference.

We used to go to Celebration, FL for festivities, to watch the Chinese inventions explode to the tune of Russian victory marches just like everyone else. If you don't know what Celebration is, it's like the town from the Truman Show, built by Disney and lived-in by wealthy people. But aside from the sort of heat and humidity that I traditionally associate with slowly dying while carrion birds circle overhead, last year it was wall-to-wall people. So screw that.

Seriously, the 1812 Overture is a celebration of the Russians defeating the French. Think about that when you're watching things blow up.